


Memori Metal

by GrayRainbow173



Series: Braving the Elements [10]
Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Character Death, Complete, Endgame, F/F, Grief/Mourning, episode rewrite
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-13
Updated: 2021-02-13
Packaged: 2021-03-13 09:47:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29400024
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GrayRainbow173/pseuds/GrayRainbow173
Summary: COMPLETE: We enter the ENDGAME. Admiral Kathryn Janeway has come back from the future to urge Captain Kathryn Janeway to change her fate. To save her wife.Partial rewrite of episode 7x26 Endgame. Part 10 of my series 'Braving the Elements' but this one really can be read as a stand-alone. There are no spoilers for the other parts of the series, except for their established relationship. Mind the tags and the different rating!
Relationships: Kathryn Janeway/Seven of Nine
Series: Braving the Elements [10]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1894309
Comments: 18
Kudos: 36





	Memori Metal

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for coming back for the tenth part of my series. Now this one is a little different and it is actual one of the first stories that I had "written" before I even thought of putting them all together in a series. That is why this one is the odd one out. I hope you'll enjoy reading it all the same.

Kathryn felt a storm of emotions go through her as she walked out of the Astrometrics Lab. The main one seemed to be frustration as she glanced at her older self, walking beside her.

This crazy idea to use the Borg hub to get home… The way she had been ordered by the Admiral to enter the nebula again! How she had stood on the raised platform of the Lab, looking down at her. After she had kept all the details of their escape to herself! 

The nerve… It was too dangerous and she wouldn’t risk the opportunity to destroy this Borg’s hub. Not on a small chance that they could get home earlier… She couldn’t!

Oh, how she hated time travel! It was too complicated. That was why there was a Temporal Prime Directive! There were too many variables to consider and the repercussions could be enormous. She didn’t want anything to do with it and she could not believe that she would ever change her mind about that in the future.

But apparently she had and there were so many questions she wanted to ask this older Kathryn Janeway walking beside her. 

How had she found her way back home to Earth? Why was she really here now? How could she have broken so many protocols to get here? How had she ever become so desperate?

She didn’t want the answers to those questions because she didn’t want to know her own future. But there were other questions, more desperate ones, that she was even more afraid to ask.

Where was Seven? Why wasn’t she with her? Had they gotten married? Were they living together on Earth? In Indiana? 

Glancing at her counterpart, she could almost sense the answers to those questions. Because if they had still been together, surely Seven would have come with her. She would not have wanted to be left behind because she would always be the one who would want to break the rules. 

Besides all that, Kathryn hadn’t like the way the Admiral had been looking at Seven even since she arrived…

“I want to know why you didn’t tell me about this.” Kathryn asked instead and it was not at all close to the questions she really wanted to ask but she had to say something to take back some of her authority.

“Because I remember how stubborn and self-righteous I used to be. I figured you might try to do something stupid.” Her counterpart answered, making Kathryn bristle inside because of her condescending tone.

“We have an opportunity to deal a crippling blow to the Borg. It could save millions of lives!” Kathryn defended her own reasoning.

“I didn’t spend the last ten years looking for a way to get this crew home earlier so you could throw it all away on some intergalactic goodwill mission.” Janeway told her and Kathryn could almost hear the voices of her parents in the Admiral’s scolding, making it even more impossible to listen to.

“Maybe we should go back to Sick Bay.” She suggested through gritted teeth.

“Why? So you could have me sedated?” Janeway asked sarcastically.

“So I can have the Doctor reaffirm your identity!” Kathryn said, quite proud of the calm that was still in her voice as she stopped walking to look her counterpart straight in the eye. “I refuse to believe I will ever become as cynical as you!”

“Am I the only one experiencing déjà vu here?” Her counterpart asked her, not at all flustered by Kathryn’s words and frustratingly using the exact same calm voice.

“What are you talking about?” Kathryn asked sharply.

“Seven years ago you had the chance to use the Caretaker’s array to get Voyager home.” Janeway said keeping her gaze steady and Kathryn thought it very unnerving to look directly into her own eyes like that. “Instead you destroyed it.”

“I did what I knew was right.” Kathryn defended herself again.

“You choose to put the lives of strangers ahead of the lives of your crew. You _can’t_ make the same mistake again.” Janeway said and then Kathryn saw it… 

There was some deep emotion in those eyes that she knew all too well. Her counterpart was trying to hide it but she knew… and a strange cold feeling of fear started to creep up inside her chest.

“You got Voyager home, which means I will too.” Kathryn told her defiantly, pushing the Admiral just a little. She knew how to play this, Janeway would crack and she would finally tell her what this was really all about. “If it takes a few more years then that’s-”

“Seven is going to die.” Janeway choked out and the anguish sprung forth from her eyes to cover her whole face. An anguish so raw and powerful that Kathryn almost didn’t hear her words but then she did.

Seven… Her Seven. Dying. 

“What?” Kathryn sputtered. 

Maybe it was a lie… Maybe it was a ploy to make sure that she would follow along with this crazy plan. Seven would always be her weakness after all. The Admiral was just using her against her…

“Three years from now, she’ll be injured on an away mission.” Janeway recounted and her words sounded rehearsed but the truth was there in her eyes. “She’ll make it back to Voyager and die… in _your_ arms.”

Kathryn stumbled backwards until she hit the wall of the corridor. _No… Not Seven._ She thought and her mind rebelled against the very notion. _It’s impossible. Seven can’t die. It is unimaginable…_

~*~

_Three years into the future._

“Where are they?” Kathryn barked at her crew. 

“We are getting closer, Captain. But they are still outside of transporter range.” Tom Paris told her as he desperately moved his fingers over his console, urging Voyager to get closer to the shuttle flying their way. 

“The minute they get into range, transport Seven and B’Elanna to Sick Bay.” Kathryn said as she whirled around to look at Harry Kim. “Tell Chakotay he has to try and get the shuttle back but that we will keep a lock on him.”

Harry simply nodded at her, looking quite pale but staying strong. She needed him to stay strong, they had to get the away team back safely. She needed Seven…

The minute Chakotay had contacted Voyager from the shuttle, Kathryn knew something was wrong. Her First Officer had been unable to explain the full situation to her because of the malfunctions in the shuttle but he had been able to tell her that Seven was injured… badly.

The confusion and fear that had followed were only being held down by her training as she tried to keep a level head to give her orders to her crew. But her heart had screamed at her. Seven. Her Seven was injured. Her wife. 

“How long, Mr. Paris?” Kathryn asked him again. 

“Any minute now, Captain!” He told her in a shaky voice. B’Elanna was also on the shuttle but Chakotay had only said that Seven was injured. Still, Tom must be experiencing some of the same fear that she was feeling right now. 

“The scans indicate that the shuttle was fired upon.” Tuvok’s voice came from behind her, calm as usual and Kathryn had trouble digesting what he was saying. “They must have been in a fight.”

“I have a lock, Captain!” Harry told her before she could respond to Tuvok’s analysis.

“Transport them.” Kathryn told him as she ran around the railing of the Bridge towards the turbolift. “Tuvok, you have the Bridge.”

Tom had quickly followed her, not waiting for permission but she didn’t object as he jumped into the lift with her right before the doors closed. “Sick Bay!”

Her Captain’s mind told her to calm down, actually urging her to go back to the Bridge where she could keep an eye out for any enemies coming their way. If the shuttle had been under attack, Voyager might be attacked as well. But she knew Tuvok would be able to guide the shuttle back and to make any decisions about battle stations. He had to because she couldn’t think straight right now.

Tom said nothing to her as they waited for the lift to get them to the right deck but when the doors finally opened he let her out first before they both sprinted down the corridor. 

Her heart stopped as the doors of Sick Bay opened up and she saw her beautiful wife lying on the nearest biobed. There was so much blood. “Seven…”

She hurried forward and B’Elanna, who had been holding Seven’s hand, quickly let go and stepped aside before she flung herself into Tom’s waiting arms. 

Kathryn immediately picked up the abandoned hand herself, feeling how cold it was. “Seven…”

“Kathryn…” Seven choked out and there was blood slipping from between her beautiful lips. “Kathryn…”

“Mr. Paris! I need you.” The Doctor told his nurse as he kept working on Seven’s injuries.

Kathryn quickly looked down at Seven’s body but her stomach turned over at the sight of her wife’s injuries. Her mind was barely able to take it all in. 

“Kathryn…” Seven soft voice reached her ears through the ringing inside of them and Kathryn quickly looked back at Seven’s face. 

“I’m here, Seven.” She said, moving in closer so her wife could see her more clearly because one of her eyes, her Borg eye, was damaged as well. 

“I’m not… I’m not going to make it.” Seven whispered and tears started to slide down her cheeks, mingling with the smudges of blood there.

“Don’t say that.” Kathryn ordered her. “Don’t say that, you have to make it. Please.”

She quickly looked up at the Doctor, urging him to tell them that Seven would be fine but there was an awful desperate look on his face and his hands actually started to slow down. 

“No…” Kathryn said as she looked around at the others, looking for a solution maybe. But Tom was staring down at the Doctor’s and his own hands and B’Elanna was leaning against the central console of the room. She looked unharmed but she was crying. 

“Do something!” Kathryn urged Tom and the Doctor on. “Her nanoprobes… anything, please!”

“Kathryn…” Seven said again and her free hand shakily moved up to turn her head back so she would look at her again. “There is nothing they can do. Doctor… please, stop.”

“No!” Kathryn tried to blink her own angry tears from her eyes. “You can’t give up. Please.”

“I’m sorry…” Seven choked out. 

“No, please.” Kathryn reached out her other hand and stroked it softly against Seven’s cheek while holding her other hand firmly in her grasp, feeling the cold metal of Seven’s wedding ring press against her skin. “I need you. I _love_ you.”

“I love you too, Kathryn… I’m so sorry.” Seven whispered. 

Then the only sound in the room was Seven’s labored breathing and Kathryn knew that the Doctor and Mr. Paris had moved back. They had given up and were now giving them space. To say goodbye.

“Please, Seven. Stay with me.” Kathryn begged. “Please, love.”

“I can’t… I want to but I can’t.” Seven said softly and the pain on her face was enough for Kathryn’s heart to start breaking. 

Tears slid down her own cheeks as she softly placed kissed on Seven’s hands, choking on her own pleas.

“Promise me…” Seven suddenly said with some force. “Promise me you won’t give up.”

“Seven…” Kathryn whispered.

“Promise… me, Kathryn.” Seven urged her and her grip on Kathryn’s hand intensified. “Promise me you will get home… to Earth… Indiana…”

“Seven… I can’t…” Kathryn cried. “I can’t go on without you, please.”

“Promise… me…” Seven sighed and then everything went still and dark as Kathryn’s heart shattered into a million pieces.

~*~

_Present Day._

A ringing filled Kathryn ears as she tried to control her breathing. She felt dizzy and the corridor actually started to spin before her eyes while the Admiral simply kept staring at her.

“If I know what’s going to happen… I can prevent it!” Kathryn gasped out as she sunk down to her knees. Her counterpart followed her down immediately, grasping her shoulders.

“You don’t know that.” She said urgently and her nails were biting into Kathryn’s arms through her uniform. “You _know_ how tricky time travel is. _This is the only way!_ ”

The mania in her eyes was almost enough to sober Kathryn up and she wanted to push her away, revulsed and scared by the look in her eyes. She wanted to tell her that she was crazy but the pain she saw in those same eyes was too familiar, too daunting. Her worst fear… a reality.

“Please…” The Admiral choked out, trying very hard to put her mask of calm back together again. “Please… you have to save her.”

Time travel. It _was_ something she would never dabble in. She had been right about that. But losing Seven… that was even more unimaginable. That would make her break all the rules.

“How did you…” Kathryn whispered but then she did not know how to finish the question.

“Survive?” Janeway asked her and some of her cynical sarcasm was back in her voice. “I didn’t and neither will you.”

She straightened up again, not offering Kathryn a hand to help her up too. “Seven asked me to. She made me promise to keep going, to get Voyager home. And I did.”

Kathryn pushed herself back up but she kept her hand firmly on the wall just in case. 

“Now I know why I survived.” Janeway said taking a step closer until her face was only inches away from Kathryn’s. “To get her back. This _will_ work. It _has_ to work. I will not let you walk away from this. You could get them all home. You can get _Seven_ home. Today…”

Kathryn shook her head, breaking the intense eye contact with her older self and then she slipped out from under her gaze. She took three steps into the corridor, back to the Astrometrics Lab, back to her Seven but then she stopped…

She turned around slowly, looking at the Admiral. And she finally saw what she would become. Desperate… obsessed… maybe even crazy…definitely heartbroken. 

The Admiral looked back at her with pleading eyes, no longer trying to hide her emotions. She opened her mouth again, taking a deep breath. Maybe to beg? But Kathryn quickly raised her hand to stop her. She didn’t need to say anything else.

This was all too much information to process in such short time and she hadn’t given up on her idea about destroying the Borg hub… But there had to be a way. There was no way around it. Only one thing mattered now. She had to save _their_ Seven.

**Author's Note:**

> THE END... for now.
> 
> Please, especially for this one, if you have the time let me know what you think. Because it is quite different from my previous stories.
> 
> Some of the dialogue in this story came directly from the episode. Endgame is my favorite episode of Voyager and I absolutely love the brave Admiral coming back to save them. However, I am not a fan of C7 and that is why I always imagined this part of the episode to have gone differently. Now I have finally put my ideas into words.
> 
> The next part in the series might take some time to set up but will continue right where Endgame left us...


End file.
